Vegas

You know you live in Canada when they tell you to go watch the rest of the football game on your local CBS affiliate! TSN has bumped the remainder of the football game for the pregame show for the Junior Hockey game. I sure love my TSN!

Ok I got it. level 82% level 90% quality. I just want to thank you guys for introducing me to a real cool technology.

Is anybody bothering to get FSSN on satellite tonight? I currently get a Level of 55% and a quality of 0. The test of 11776 Mhz H Polarity 29000 symbol is coming in at 82% level and a quality of 74%

Toews is playing his natural position which is at center. That is the main reason why he is getting more opportunities and points. Toews has great vision from the backside. He sets guys up when he is able to be the player who is the trailer as opposed to the guy who has to forecheck and get first man pressure on the D man.

Futher to this. I heard through the grapevine that Colin Wilson has been getting some feelers from some Colleges and oddly enough it was shortly after this initial post. Hopefully some of those feelers are coming from UND since it would be a great fit for both Colin and UND.

Poplawski is a smart, skilled 1986 born D-man who has great character. His dad was the best athlete I ever played against in any sport. If you met the Joe (his dad) you would never know he was a Hall of Famer. He has too much class to brag about it. Another kid that should be considered from the Blues from a character perspective is Dan Bohemier. Can score when he has too, but is more important for his leadership skills.

This is one of the better posts regarding Toews. Toews is one of UND's better players on and off the puck even though he is young and is probably weaker strengthwise than almost all the guys he is playing against. His best asset appears to be his ability to shield the puck and not expose it to the D-man. Some other guys seem to invite the opportunity to expose the puck so they can dangle the puck through the guys legs. It all looks very spectacular when it works. Unfortunately they usually fail in half their attempts which means they lose the puck half the time. This is simply not acceptable at the next level and that is where Toews is going. If someone doesn't think that 4 or 5 years, i.e., the age difference between a 17 year old and a 22 year, doesn't make a difference than I suggest they talk to any reputable strength coach. There is a big difference between a 17 year old 185 lb athlete and a 22 year old 185 lb athlete when it comes to strength and conditioning. Jon will get stronger next year and he will show his true skill and ability. He will also likely get to play his natural position which is at center. I'm guessing that Hak doesn't have him at center this year because of the strength issue. I watched the game on Friday and I didn't notice Kessel until the PP where he scored. I noticed Toews on almost every shift in the first half of the game because of his ability to hold on to the puck. I also noticed him on the PP. If he had scored on his two posts we would probably be talking about what a great weekend Toews had over Kessel.

Esposito is another great Canadian talent but Toews is still a more complete player at this point in time and may stay that way. Esposito and Toews played together at Shattuck last year and Toews showed that he was the best player on that team that also included Kyle Okposo.

I saw Gryba play last year. He was a big kid with above average hands and hockey sense. He ran the powerplay very effectively for the Saskatoon Contacts. My only question mark was his skating which I would describe as below average to well below average. As a result, he may or may not become a dominant defencemen in college hockey. You can't really tell until he gets into a practice or game with guys that can really skate to determine if he can or cannot keep up.

My experience is that it is a pretty good indicator stat. Yes, there are times when it is totally unfair because someone has just stepped out on to the ice when a goal is scored and had nothing to do with the play leading up to the goal or the goalie has simply let in a weak goal. Over a longer period, however, it does tend to give you some hints about a player, particularly if his +/- is out of step with the rest of his team.

The +/- stat is actually pretty telling. If you have a lot of points but a realtively low +, then that tells me that you are a one dimensional player, i.e., the ice is sloped towards the other team's end. If you have a lot of points and have a high + then that suggests that you are a complete hockey player and probably a leader on the team. There are times when the statistic can be misleading but over the course of a season it usually gives you a pretty good idea of what is going on with certain players.

I'm not watching the feed but I've seen this goal before from Toews. Get used to it folks!

I 'm going to repeat myself but here goes. Toews was born in 1988. Kessel was born in 1987. T.J. Oshie was born in 1986. To compare Toews to these guys and say they are better is unfair at this stage. Waite another year after he has had some time to gain some additional strength and then ask yourself, where he sits. I suggest he will be ahead of both TJ and Kessel by then. TJ for sure. The reason I suspect people don't recognize how young Toews is, is because he is as tall or taller than a good chunk of his current teammates.

That is why it is so difficult to compare Toews to anybody else. You have to imagine Toews at his current level playing at Shattuck this year and ask yourself, how would he do? I would suggest that he would absolutely destroy that league. Then you have to ask yourself, how will he do next year as a rookie after having a full year under his belt at the NCAA level. Obviously you can't have a full year and be a rookie at the same time, but that is effectively what we are talking about when it comes to Toews and any comparisons that you would make with anybody else. He is a unique situation.

Whenever someone makes a comparison between Toews and say Z Parise they should realize that he is likely a year younger than any of the other rookies both past and present. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing Parise was at least 18 years old when he first came to UND. Toews was born in 1988. He is playing as a true 17 year old. His peers are still in high school. That is one of the reasons why UND will likely see this kid for at least 2 years. Toew's hand to eye coordination is what sets him apart, the puck never leaves the toe of his stick when he receives a pass. It appears to be glued to his stick. That is one of the differences between him and the rest.

Colin was born in the States. His dad is Carey Wilson who played in the NHL for a number of years. Colin grew up in Winnipeg.

Another couple of kids the Sioux should look at is Colin Wilson and Justin Guttek out of Winnipeg. I note that Colin Wilson is now the leading scorer for the US Under 17 NTDP after 10 games. He may be looking for a place to play that is close to home in a couple of years and I can't think of a better place than Grand Forks which is only a couple of hours away. Guttek is a great skating defencemen who is currently attending Prep School at Salisbury High School. He is probably going to go college at some point. Again, the Sioux would have some advantages over other colleges based on proximity.

Toews is a natural center and should probably center the second line to start the season. Once you see this kid play you will understand. His vision is second to none and that includes Zajac.

Toews is younger than all of the guys on this list. There was another post wondering why Toews was the only College kid on Team Canada's Under 18 team this year. They didn't realize that his teammates were likely entering grade 12. Don't forget, Toews skipped a year. He did 3 years of high school in 2 at Shattuck. In fact, some of these guys are 3 years older! Toews has also outperformed all of these players when comparing apples to apples. He was the captain of a gold medal winning team at both the Under 17's and the Under 18's. He was also the leading scorer in both these tournaments. The only two guys that you can say something similar is Kessel and Cogliano. Cogliano was the leading scorer for Team Ontario when they won their gold medal in 2004 at the Under 17's. He was however an alternate captain not the captain of that team. You should also look at the physical stats of these guys. Many of them will not be able to play at the pro level unless they somehow have sudden growth spurt. Toews is already one of the biggest guys on this list and as mentioned above, he is considerably younger.

Found this on the above noted site: Aug 15, 2005 IVAN HLINKA MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT FINAL RESULTS For August 14th Gold Medal Match Canada 5 Czech 3 7th Place Match Sweden 4 Switzerland 2 Scoring Leaders CAN Jonathan Toews 9pts CAN Zach Hamill 8pts USA Michael Fourney 8pts USA Kyle Okposo 7pts CZE Michal Kazatel 7pts SVK Julius Sinkovic 6pts SVK Erik Caladi 5pts SUI Aurelio Lemm 5pts USA Mike Borisenok 5pts RUS Aleksandr Vasyunov 4pts Final Standings 1. Canada 2. Czech 3. Finland 4. Russia 5. USA 6. Slovakia 7. Sweden 8. Switzerland Posted at 10:03 am by Panflo Posted by Vegas @ 08/26/2005 07:44 PM PDT Jonathan Toews is again the leading scorer in a world class tournament. Hopefully some smart scout will figure out just how good the manitoba 88's are and maybe have a few more of them on the Junior Team next year. White and Macaulay are two other boys that should have been on this team. Based on the final points, Jonathan had two assists in the final for a total of 5 goals and 4 assists for the tournament. He was the leading scorer in a World Championship tournament AGAIN!!! This should reinforce just how good this kid is. His linemate was Zack Hamill who came second in scoring with 4 goals and 4 assists. Ben Maxwell also had a few points. The total scoring for the line was likely around 20 points and they accounted for 10 of Canada's 23 goals. My prediction for next year is that whoever plays on Jonathan's right side will have a career year especially if he is a right handed shot. I also question Peter Mueller or any of the other guys being rated above Jonathan with the exception of Kessel. Jonathan has consistently outscored and outplayed Mueller whenever they have gone head to head in minor hockey tournaments. Kessel, in my opinion, is the only player who is on the same level as Jonathan. Again it must be noted that Kessel is roughly 6 months older.

I coached against Jonathan when he was six years old and noticed that he was a special player even then. When he had scored his five or six goals he would try and find another kid on his team that hadn't scored for a while and he would set that kid up. I watched him until he was 14 when he left Manitoba to pursue a hockey career outside of the Province. I can tell you that if he isn't a force initially because of the difference in speed and strength of the players at the College level, he will be by Christmas. The kid is an absolute warrior and he is one of the smartest kids you will ever come across. He will adapt very quickly.

Note that Jonathan is perfectly bilingual since his mother is french and he went to french imersion school while growing up in winnipeg. Having said that, the story is pretty funny when read from the translation, especially when you know what the translation is really trying to say.